restaurant design – Lodginghttp://lodgingmagazine.com
Official Publication of the AH&LAThu, 08 Dec 2016 16:42:34 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.13 Trends Impacting Restaurant Design and Menushttp://lodgingmagazine.com/3-trends-impacting-restaurant-design-and-menus/
http://lodgingmagazine.com/3-trends-impacting-restaurant-design-and-menus/#respondThu, 14 Aug 2014 15:13:19 +0000http://lodgingmagazine.com/?p=13528The dramatic expansion of quick-service and fast-casual restaurant options has made dining out even more popular. In 2013, 83 percent of U.S. consumers ate a meal or snack at a quick-service venue, and more than 68 percent dined in a casual-setting restaurant. In that same year, however, consumers reported in an industry survey that they planned to spend less on dining out in 2014—roughly 9 percent less. Whether these consumers followed through or not, this ...

]]>The dramatic expansion of quick-service and fast-casual restaurant options has made dining out even more popular. In 2013, 83 percent of U.S. consumers ate a meal or snack at a quick-service venue, and more than 68 percent dined in a casual-setting restaurant.

In that same year, however, consumers reported in an industry survey that they planned to spend less on dining out in 2014—roughly 9 percent less. Whether these consumers followed through or not, this signifies a more competitive market. Hoteliers and restaurateurs competing for dining dollars will need to stay a step ahead of the competition.

With that in mind, consider these trends impacting venue design and menu composition.

Visibility, transparency. When money is tight, diners may not want to take chances. This puts restaurants that obscure their best features at a disadvantage. Exposure to the street, mall, hotel lobby, or casino floor encourages passers-by to linger. Open kitchens are nothing new, perhaps, but now even fine-dining establishments are putting their dining rooms on view.

Moonlight Noodle House in the Sands Macau in South China provides an excellent example. For fast-casual noodles and dumplings, the casino floor-adjacent location is prime. A recent renovation replaced the solid walls with large “moon gates”—circular openings borrowed from Chinese garden traditions. One gate serves as the entrance while others feature lattice-like shelving, and all of them offer glimpses into the chic and inviting dining room. The renovation turned an unassuming venue into a much-talked about winner.

Experimenting with fast-casual menus. While diners may want to avoid unwelcome surprises, an increasing number have cultivated an adventurous palate and crave new experiences. The newly opened Despaña on Princeton, N.J.’s tony Nassau Street serves as proof. Carved from an industrial/retail location, the Iberian eatery serves a brisk lunch trade with manzanilla olives, Manchego cheese, Serrano ham, exotic preserves, and authentic paella along with wine and sangria. The location also features a deli counter in the sun-drenched lobby, so visitors can take the flavors home with them. Fast casual isn’t just for burgers anymore, and new tastes aren’t just for big-city dwellers to enjoy. The tapas spot, with rich Spanish finish materials blending with the exposed industrial features, is also popular for dinner and utilizes custom-designed tables that move quickly from counter-height at lunch to table-height for evening service.

It’s important to note that tapas are not just for Spanish food anymore. The taste-and-share service style is increasingly popular, and venues are experimenting with small plate fare: vegetarian-only, Asian, sliders, and even farm-to-table and organic options are populating tapas or small plate lists.

Dessert, elsewhere. Fine dining in Europe and Asia (particularly France and Japan) is notable for the occasional dessert room, a separate space within the venue where patrons adjourn for the final courses. At Waku Ghin, which serves an eight-course seasonal dégustation menu of traditional Japanese cuisine atop the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore, patrons are escorted after dinner to a room with spectacular views of the bay and skyline—the better to enjoy a cold lychee-strawberry soup or perhaps a mini cheesecake. Dessert rooms have yet to make much of a splash in the United States (there’s one at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa, Fla.). But restaurateurs looking to set themselves apart with diners interested in unique experiences should consider getting out in front of the trend, as they also boost the bottom line by allowing the servers to turn tables more quickly.

In addition to these big changes in restaurant and hospitality design, here are a couple more trends to watch for:

• Newer restaurants are consulting with designers about making the best use of space. In many cases, the best option is creating flexible space: incorporating partition solutions in the ceiling, or concealed in a wall, that offer options for customers who may prefer a private dining room, yet easily revert to conventional dining space when needed.

• Casual diners, especially those who are eating solo, are enjoying self-service venues more often, some with kiosks for ordering on a touchscreen or iPad. The next step, as we’re starting to see, is for hotels to offer self-service with the swipe of a room card: guests can order a meal to be picked up from a counter and enjoyed while seated in the lobby.

]]>http://lodgingmagazine.com/3-trends-impacting-restaurant-design-and-menus/feed/0Food and Beverage Concepthttp://lodgingmagazine.com/food-and-beverage-concept/
http://lodgingmagazine.com/food-and-beverage-concept/#respondTue, 18 Mar 2014 21:10:39 +0000http://lodgingmagazine.com/?p=10258The overall theme or impression that a restaurant, bar, or lounge is intended to convey. A well-designed F&B concept is reinforced by the architecture, the furniture and decorations, the menu items, and by the staff. As such, concepts are more than just cookie cutter approaches to hotel F&B, they are identity reinforcing features. “Hotel brands are now considering F&B concepts at the earliest stages of development,” says restaurant, retail, and foodservice consultant Arlene Spiegel. “No ...

]]>The overall theme or impression that a restaurant, bar, or lounge is intended to convey. A well-designed F&B concept is reinforced by the architecture, the furniture and decorations, the menu items, and by the staff. As such, concepts are more than just cookie cutter approaches to hotel F&B, they are identity reinforcing features. “Hotel brands are now considering F&B concepts at the earliest stages of development,” says restaurant, retail, and foodservice consultant Arlene Spiegel. “No longer
is F&B an afterthought whereby architects reserve space for a restaurant and figure it out later in the design process. The restaurateur is now brought to the table from ideation to execution. This collaboration creates a mutually beneficial partnership where it’s in everyone’s interest to do the right thing.” Speigel points to this relationship as what governs the menu, services, style, marketing and branding decisions for the life of the operations.

]]>http://lodgingmagazine.com/food-and-beverage-concept/feed/0‘Top Chef’ Alum Brian Malarkey Opens First Hotel Restauranthttp://lodgingmagazine.com/top-chef-alum-brian-malarkey-opens-first-hotel-restaurant/
http://lodgingmagazine.com/top-chef-alum-brian-malarkey-opens-first-hotel-restaurant/#respondMon, 10 Feb 2014 15:12:14 +0000http://lodgingmagazine.com/?p=9431At 8 a.m. on a Monday in January, executive chef Brian Malarkey is rushing to catch a flight to Park City, Utah, where he will prepare a four-course meal at ChefDance, a private dining event held in conjunction with the Sundance Film Festival. The Top Chef 3 Miami alum is coming off the high of a successful grand opening weekend for Herringbone restaurant at the Mondrian Los Angeles. More than 900 guests showed up on ...

]]>At 8 a.m. on a Monday in January, executive chef Brian Malarkey is rushing to catch a flight to Park City, Utah, where he will prepare a four-course meal at ChefDance, a private dining event held in conjunction with the Sundance Film Festival. The Top Chef 3 Miami alum is coming off the high of a successful grand opening weekend for Herringbone restaurant at the Mondrian Los Angeles. More than 900 guests showed up on Jan. 16 to sample the ocean-to-table cuisine, socialize over cocktails, and explore the 7,500-square-foot indoor-outdoor space designed by Thomas Schoos.

“Then we cleaned up the restaurant, put it all back together, and opened up to 200 reservations Friday night,” says Malarkey, co-founder of the San Diego-based restaurant and nightlife development company Enlightened Hospitality Group. “We wound up doing about 250 each, Friday and Saturday night. That was a really exciting start for us.”

Herringbone L.A. is Malarkey’s seventh restaurant to open since 2010, but it’s his first in a hotel. Breakfast, room service, and banquets are all new to the Oregon native. “I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work when we first went into it,” Malarkey admits. Fortunately, he can rely on the guidance of chef de cuisine Anthony Sinsay, whose hotel F&B experience includes SLS Hotel Beverly Hills, Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, and Platinum Hotel and Spa in Las Vegas.

When Malarkey got amped up about putting fried chicken and waffles on the room service menu, Sinsay broke the news that the dish wouldn’t travel well. Malarkey hadn’t even considered that possibility. “So he made me fried chicken and waffles, put it underneath the dome, and opened it up 15 minutes later. It was kinda gross, sorry,” Malarkey says. “Good in theory, bad in execution.”

Herringbone, which replaced the longtime Asia de Cuba restaurant, took over the kitchen at the Mondrian in September. Malarkey retained many of the Asia de Cuba cooks and service staff. For three months, the team cooked out of a temporary kitchen in the basement until renovations were complete. The upgraded kitchen now features a wood-burning oven that churns out flatbreads with toppings like bone marrow and clam, prosciutto and burrata, or roasted beet and bergamot orange.

Once dinner is completely dialed in, the culinary team will fine-tune room service, then lunch, and then breakfast. “It will take a few months to really touch every single aspect of service we want,” Malarkey says. “We’re still working on banquets and catering menus. Now we have a nice kitchen where we can really push stuff out.”

Malarkey is excited to serve riskier menu items, such as chicken liver mousse with caviar and lamb or smoked salmon tartare, that are too aggressive for Herringbone’s original location in La Jolla, Calif., which opened in 2012. “We’re going to be bigger and broader in the L.A. location,” Marlarkey says. “The kitchen is bigger and the clientele is more diverse. There are a lot of different European markets coming together at the Mondrian, a really fun and classy crowd.”

Designer Schoos also added a jeweled sheen to the rustic atmosphere of the original Herringbone to give the L.A. location a more elegant, Hollywood look. “We’re in the Mondrian, you can’t be putting a barn into a castle,” Malarkey says. The breezy, fresh California vibe is augmented with striking art pieces such as an acacia root table dipped in gold, two gold-leafed skeletons of fantasy creatures, lobster traps filled with puffer fish, and original paintings turned into dining tables.

Malarkey’s culinary career has been in full gear since competing on Bravo’s Top Chef in 2007. “It gave me humility and a lot of confidence,” Malarkey says. “It really let me step my game up from that cowboy kid from small-town Oregon.” He had the chance to meet and get to know major players in the restaurant industry, including renowned French chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud, French chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin fame, and outspoken American chef Anthony Bourdain, former host of Travel Channel’s No Reservations.

After guest judge Ripert kicked Malarkey off in part one of the season finale, he returned to his post as executive chef and operating partner of San Diego’s Oceanaire restaurant. About two years later, he began to build his food empire. Malarkey partnered up with hospitality innovator James Brennan and the duo launched Enlightened Hospitality Group in 2010. That July, Malarkey opened his first restaurant, Searsucker, in the heart of the Gaslamp District. “We got this amazing location and success was right out of the gate,” he says.

In addition to Herringbone, Enlightened Hospitality’s restaurant portfolio has grown to include Gabardine, a seafood bar in San Diego’s seaside community of Point Loma; and three more Searsuckers, in Scottsdale, Ariz., Austin, Texas, and Del Mar, Calif. The company plans to add more Searsucker and Herringbone locations in the next few years. But for now, Malarkey is focused on learning the ins and outs of running a hotel restaurant. “We get smart fast. I’m not going to allow myself that long of a learning curve,” Malarkey says. “I think once I figure it out, it will all become much easier. I’ll have a huge package of how to implement it next time.”